EU EMIR: ESMA publishes guidance on active account requirement

Key points

• On 20 February 2026, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a supervisory briefing setting out its expectations on how firms should comply with and report on the EU EMIR active account requirement (AAR).

• The briefing:

• clarifies how counterparties should identify the "most relevant subcategories" for the purposes of the AAR representativeness obligation;
• explains the methodology firms should use to assess compliance with the representativeness obligation; and
• includes a worked example illustrating how firms should assess compliance and complete the related reporting templates.

• ESMA also confirms in the briefing that AAR compliance is assessed on an annual average basis. At each January and July reporting date, firms must demonstrate that they have met the requirement on average over the preceding 12 months, rather than for each individual reference period.

• In a related press release, ESMA states that in-scope firms are expected to follow this guidance to meet their regulatory obligations.

What is the representativeness obligation?

The AAR comprises two elements, which are set out in Article 7a(3)(a)-(d) of EU EMIR:

1. an operational obligation to establish an appropriate account with an EU central clearing counterparty (CCP) (Article 7a(3)(a)-(c)); and
2. a representativeness obligation to clear at an EU CCP a minimum number of in-scope transactions each year, which must be representative of the firm's non-EU clearing activity over specified reference periods (Article 7a(3)(d)).

To comply with the representativeness obligation, for each in-scope derivative category¹ firms must first identify the "most relevant subcategories".

To do this, they must identify, within a defined pool of transactions characterised by prescribed size and maturity combinations, which combinations (or "subcategories") were most frequently cleared at non-EU CCPs during the relevant reference period. The subcategories with the highest clearing volumes are the firm’s "most relevant subcategories".

Technical standards (RTS) setting out detailed requirements for both obligations were published in the Official Journal of the EU in early February 2026. The RTS also establish associated reporting obligations and contain reporting templates.

What does the briefing cover?

The supervisory briefing provides clarification and practical examples of how firms should assess and report compliance with the representativeness obligation under Article 7b of EMIR and Annex III of the RTS. It is divided into three sections, the content of which is summarised below.

1. Identifying the most relevant subcategories

Firms must identify the most relevant subcategories on a continuous basis for each reference period.

For euro-denominated interest rate derivatives, the most relevant subcategories may change between reference periods depending on trading patterns. However, for Polish zloty interest rate derivatives and euro short-term interest rate derivatives, all prescribed subcategories are treated as "most relevant". These will not change over time, as every prescribed subcategory will constitute a "most relevant subcategory".

The briefing includes a summary table (replicated below), indicating:

• the required number of most relevant subcategories for each derivative category ("# of most relevant subcategories");
• the total number of possible subcategories, based on the prescribed maturity and size combinations ("Out of…."); and
• possible reference periods (one month, six months, or twelve months depending on the firm's derivative trading activity and derivative class) ("Reference period").

2. Reporting on representativeness compliance

Compliance is assessed on an "annual average basis".

On each January and July reporting date, firms must identify the most relevant subcategories on average over the previous 12 months and demonstrate that they have cleared at an EU CCP the relevant number of transactions per subcategory over that 12-month period. There is no requirement to do so every reference period.

ESMA acknowledges that this could force firms to concentrate transactions at the end of a reporting period, but suggests that careful monitoring should allow firms to adjust trading accordingly.

3. Worked example

The final section of the briefing uses a worked example to demonstrate how a hypothetical in-scope firm would:

• identify the most relevant subcategories for a particular derivative class;
• analyse whether it had cleared the required number of in-scope transactions at an EU CCP; and
• populate the template reporting tables found in Annex III of the RTS.